A complete photo voltaic eclipse is coming to North America on April 8. The Great North American Eclipse, because it has been dubbed, shall be seen throughout 13 US States, plus components of Mexico and japanese Canada. But it won’t look the identical for everyone.

For these residing alongside the trail of totality—the projection of the moon’s shadow on the Earth’s floor—the celestial occasion is certain to please. For everybody else, experiencing the whole eclipse would require in depth planning … which, when you’re organized, ought to’ve already occurred, however let’s face it, it in all probability has not.

I, for one, was contemplating Lexington, Kentucky, as my viewing venue. I had learn that the eclipse there can be “deep partial,” however having by no means earlier than witnessed a photo voltaic eclipse, I wasn’t certain whether or not that was ok. My quest to search out out led me to a nifty solar eclipse simulator that helps customers visualize what April’s photo voltaic eclipse will appear like from any metropolis, city, mountain peak, or desolate patch of land within the northern hemisphere. To feed your creativeness as you “try out” numerous areas, the simulator enables you to set select considered one of greater than 50 landscapes to match the vibe you’re in search of—a metropolis skyline, a snowy mountain vary, or a placid lakefront. You can drag a slider on a timeline and watch the solar and the moon glide throughout your display till they turn into one because the sky turns a dusky shade of blue.

The software, which is predicated on centuries-old astronomical calculations in addition to trendy knowledge, was constructed by Dan McGlaun, a retired mathematician from Purdue University and a self-professed geek who has been chasing eclipses since he was 10 years outdated. To date, McGlaun has witnessed 15 eclipses from incongruous locations like airplanes and cruise ships. “I went to Kenya for an 11-second eclipse and it was the best day of my life,” he says.

The photo voltaic eclipse simulator is a aspect function of McGlaun’s most important web site, by means of which he sells eclipse safety glasses. (These protecting shades are an absolute should when you’re planning to lookup on the sky in the course of the eclipse.) But it solely takes a minute on the telephone with McGlaun to know that the simulator is an absolute labor of affection and the security glasses enterprise exists to fund it.

In 2017, McGlaun constructed a smartphone app that allowed folks to decide on an eclipse-viewing location on a map of the US to search out out whether or not their chosen spot was within the path of totality for the eclipse throughout August of that 12 months. Now, he’s furthered his effort to “evangelize eclipses” by constructing a extra complicated simulator, this one with an academic bent.

It took lower than a minute of tinkering for me to know that I’d not be spending April 8 in Lexington, Kentucky, for the easy causes {that a} partial eclipse—nonetheless “deep”—was nowhere close to as spectacular as the whole eclipse I noticed (on my display) in locations like Dallas, Texas, or Mazatlan, Mexico.